Actor Michael Shannon’s New Spin on R.E.M.

Shannon and musician Jason Narducy discuss their favorite songs by the beloved band

Craig Rosen,

AARP

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Published January 30, 2025

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy musicians, bathed in warm stage light, engage in a captivating performance

Michael Shannon, left, and Jason Narducy perform on “Late Night With Seth Myers” in December 2023

Lloyd Bishop/Getty Images

Michael Shannon is a two-time Oscar nominee and has starred in prestige TV shows George & Tammy and Boardwalk Empire. But the 50-year-old gets a “big adrenaline rush” from singing in a band. “I guess like most actors, I wish I was a rock ’n’ roll star.”

Lately, Shannon has been living out these dreams with veteran indie rock musician Jason Narducy, 53. Shannon and Narducy first played together more than a decade ago, performing Lou Reed’s album The Blue Mask with fellow musician Robbie Fulks. The two later covered other albums, including The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, before finding their sweet spot with R.E.M.

Last year, Shannon and Narducy led a band of musicians on a U.S. tour of live music clubs on which they played all the songs from R.E.M.’s critically acclaimed debut album Murmur. That run included a show in Athens, Georgia, that was attended by all four R.E.M. band members; guitarist Peter Buck and drummer Bill Berry were prompted to join the group at various points on stage.

This year, Shannon and Narducy are reviving the project with a tour focusing on R.E.M.’s third album, 1985’s Fables of the Reconstruction, in honor of its 40th anniversary. The tour runs Feb. 14 through March 15 (see the schedule at concertedefforts.com/roster/michael-shannon-jason-narducy.) Shannon and Narducy are big fans of R.E.M., and with that beloved band having broken up in 2011, concert-goers are eager to hear their songs played live.

“They were just a phenomenal band,” Narducy says. “I would put their catalog up against anybody’s. It’s just so magnificent and unique.”

Shannon remembers seeing R.E.M. perform. “You hear four masters completely articulating a musical idea, an emotional idea, with a ferocity and a passion but also a clarity. They were just in complete possession of what they were doing. And when you hear that from a band, it’s like, Oh yeah, these guys will be in the hall of fame."

We asked Shannon and Narducy to share some of their favorite R.E.M. songs:

“1,000,000” (1982)

Close-up of Michael Shannon, microphone in hand

Michael Shannon performs as part of Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders variety show at New York's City Winery in November 2024.

Al Pereira/Getty Images

“It’s a song I really love performing because the verse is so gnarly, rough and kind of vicious, and then it goes to the chorus that’s so sweet, melodic and heartfelt,” Shannon says. “That juxtaposition of anger, melancholy and yearning is a trademark of the band.”

“You Are the Everything” (1988)

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“It has the lines ‘I’m very scared for this world’ and ‘All you hear is time stand still in travel,’ ” Narducy says. “I remember the first time I heard it; I might have cried.”

“World Leader Pretend” (1988)

“It has the line ‘I raised the wall and I will be the one to knock it down,’ which gives me chills,” Shannon says. “It’s a staggering display of [singer Michael] Stipe’s wisdom.”

“Good Advices” (1985)

“ ‘When you greet a stranger, look at his shoes,’ ” Shannon says, quoting a lyric. “That’s kind of how I get through life. And it’s one of the prettiest songs I’ve ever heard.”

“Me in Honey” (1991)

“It’s a song that [bassist] Mike Mills came up with that only has two chords,” Narducy says. “That’s a level of songcraft mastery that says so much about this band. The melody just kills me.”

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Craig Rosen is a Los Angeles-based writer who has contributed to The Los Angeles Times, TIDAL and Billboard, among other outlets. He’s also the author of R.E.M. Inside Out: The Stories Behind Every Song and The Billboard Book of Number One Albums.